Prosecutor: deputy's blood found on defendant's auto

Hill died July 22 of injuries suffered when he was run over June 19 while chasing participants in an altercation at a northwest Houston nightclub.

"We had blood and tissue recovered from the defendant's vehicle," prosecutor Casey O'Brien said. "It matched the blood from the autopsy of the victim."

On Monday, a witness said Hill looked "like a rag doll" after he was hit.

"He was just flopping in the air - helpless. It was disgusting," said Chris Peterson, who was in the next lane.

Hill, 26, died at Memorial Hermann Hospital on July 22 from a massive heart attack caused by a blood clot that formed after the incident.

O'Brien blunted a possible defense strategy by acknowledging that Hill, who was off duty, was patronizing the St. James Cabaret, a topless club, when gunfire erupted.

He chased the suspects in his private car and confronted them at Rankin Road and the North Freeway feeder road.

"Oscar Hill jumped out of his car, gun in hand," O'Brien said during his opening statement. "He stuck a gun in the (suspects') window and said, 'Get out of the car.' He was thrown off the car and thrown onto the ground. He managed to get off two shots."

Prosecutors said Ibarra, 23, following in a white Thunderbird, then ran over Hill deliberately.

Witnesses said Hill was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans and a badge on his belt when he confronted the suspects.

"He probably had two beers that night," O'Brien said. "There's some question to the judgment of Oscar Hill. But does that give anybody the right to run him over?"